Photographic printers are known to the prior art. Automatic printers typically include supply and take-up rollers for photosensitive photographic material and a mechanism to automatically advance the material through an exposure area or station. The image to be exposed is established in known manner and projected on the photographic material in the exposure area. A shutter is employed to control the exposure. An example of one type of printer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,545 issued Apr. 20, 1976 in the name of Orren J. Lucht for PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINT APPARATUS which is commonly owned with the present invention and which is hereby incorporated by reference.
In printers of the type described to this point, it is known to mark between adjacent exposed areas and to employ that mark to facilitate the subsequent separation or cutting of the individual exposures. While this marking technique has proven useful, it is also often cumbersome in that additional and precise movement of the photographic material is necessary in order to properly place the mark. That is, so as not to obstruct the photographic material within the viewing area, some prior art markers are positioned outside the exposure area and, thus, at a distance from the desired mark location when the photographic material is in the desired exposure position within the exposure area. In essence, these prior art marking systems require separate and independent advances of the photographic material to position that material for exposure and marking.
In addition to marker placement, the prior art marking systems have not been totally reliable. A common marking system is that sold by Kodak under the trademark EK 5 which employs a graphite wheel to place a mark on the photographic material. Such wheels can break or wear out resulting in the printer continuing its operation with the operator assuming that the marks are being made when, in fact, no marks are being placed on the photographic material. This results in additional expense in that additional handling is necessary in cutting when the marks are not in place.